Dorian Oliver Prout

Dorian Prout was, for all intents and purposes, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His story, though, is better prefaced with his father's. Jerome Prout was born in Jonesville, SC in the mid 1940s to a woman whose husband died in the Pacific not more than four months after their first and only baby was born. Jerome's life was difficult because his mother was too proud to remarry as society demanded she do. Instead, she raised her boy on her own and, thus, they were not very wealthy at all. Growing up, Jerome loved music and learned to play the guitar as soon as he could. In 1962, he started playing guitar in a group at school and soon that group became determined to break out of their little town and make it to the bigtime. The band never got very big, but it successfully taught Jerome everything he ever wanted to know about the music industry. Orpheus Records was almost instantly a hit. Jerome had a knack for business and networking and he signed deals with big names within five years of start-up.

The only thing Jerome ever loved more than music was his wife. In 1984, he met the beautiful and young Aurora Bruyere. She was a French twentysomething actress just beginning to make what would become a very big name out of herself, but she was quickly smitten with the 40-year-old man who was determined to woo her. They were married in 1986. Their son, Dorian, was born late 1987. This is where Dorian's story begins. His family was rich and famous and that's mostly all anyone cared about.

Dorian was never neglected. Despite his mother's work schedule, she always wanted to be the one that took care of her Dori. She adored him and praised him. He was never given things just because he wanted them. Rather, he was urged to explain why he wanted them once he could. He had always been exceptional at arguing a point to get what he wanted. Growing up, his family lived in a nice high rise in New York that had a perfect view of the city. His mother took jobs on Broadway rather than in front of the cameras when Dorian started school because she wanted to be there to help him with the transition. With the record company's offices right there in the city, Dorian never had to be sent to boarding school.

When Dorian was eleven, his mother was diagnosed with an aggressive lung cancer thanks to her one real vice-- a pack a day. At the time, Dorian wasn't too sure exactly what cancer was, but he'd pass people in the hallway at school who would whisper so he wouldn't hear and magazines claimed his mother was dying. He didn't believe it, of course, because he refused to believe his beautiful and talented and famous mother was dying. He didn't believe it until her highly-publicized funeral just six months later. Jerome was a bigger workaholic than ever and, when the opportunity presented itself, he chose to take the business all the way to Los Angeles.

LA was a new beast for Dorian. Everyone was strange and obsessed with fame. In New York, he'd been allowed to slip down the street without much attention being drawn to him even with a body guard and driver, but Los Angeles pushed him into the spotlight, especially with his mother's death. Dorian was a nice boy if only a bit melancholy. Most of the tabloid stories and pictures began with a description of Dorian's sad look.

When Dorian hit high school, his father was suddenly very interested in teaching his son all there was to learn about business. He was also obsessed with the idea of Dorian getting the most out of his life while he could. The only things that saved Dorian from a public high school were the bodyguards and school district superintendent who insisted it would be better to enroll him in an all-boys private school. (The all-boys suggestion was made after private portraits of Dorian made their way into a teen girl magazine.)

In high school was where Dorian really flourished. He learned how to party between classes and business lessons at the Orpheus offices. People didn't care if he was underage as long as he promised to help a doorman or two. In high school, Dorian got away with murder-- a tradition that continued well into the years after high school.